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The other border: More Haitians and Cubans are risking their lives at sea to come to the U.S.

Federal officials have grown more concerned by the rising numbers of Haitians and Cubans taking to the sea in an attempt to enter the United States. Their fear is that, along with those who are apprehended, many others are dying while attempting the dangerous trip.

In the first 10 months of the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 4,314 Haitians have either been stopped at sea or are known to have made landfall in either Puerto Rico or on the U.S. mainland.

That is just shy of the 4,358 Haitians intercepted in all of last year and 73 percent higher than the 2,501 apprehended in fiscal 2012.

The number of Cubans known to have set sail illegally so far this year stands at 2,985, which is nearly 900 more than the total for fiscal 2013.

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How long before unscrupulous people with rickety freighters start packing them with impoverished people from all over the world willing to pay their meager life savings for a one-way trip to the US? Odds are they’d never make it to a port, but this is a humanitarian nightmare waiting to happen.

The Bahamas have a population of around 350,000 people, covering 23 inhabited islands, It is estimated that up to 80,000 Haitians now live here.

National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest says the country has benefited greatly from Haitian workers in the past, but is now feeling the strain.

“Haitian nationals have contributed greatly to the development of the Bahamas over the years, but the numbers here now are overwhelming and when we talk about healthcare, education and social services… the strain on our resources… has become extreme,” Mr Turnquest said.

Article is rather old, but nothing has especially changed. I’ll leave it my fellow commenters/readers to draw parallels between the situation of the Bahamas and the situation with Hispanic immigrants in the USA.